The present invention relates to apparatus for connecting petroleum transport vessels or oil-tankers to marine towers, columns or marine buoys with which are associated means for supplying oil or any other hydrocarbon compound. The connection operation includes, on the one hand, mooring the vessel to the tower and, on the other hand, connecting a supply conduit or line provided on the tower to a receiver conduit mounted on the vessel for transferring the hydrocarbon compound from the tower to the vessel.
In certain conventional embodiments of such apparatus, the connection is effected by means of a hose-pipe portion which is permanently suspended from the end of a boom provided on the tower.
Such conventional apparatus provide certain advantages. However, the hose-pipe portions employed in such apparatus, which frequently have diameters which exceed 40 cm, as well as the connecting components utilized, are "consumable" members, i.e. members which are relatively easily broken or damaged by exposure to adverse weather conditions, such for example as wind, rain, sea water and the like.
The invention provides a solution which enables the exposure of such portions, referred to herein as "hose-pipes", to be avoided while at the same time considerably simplifying the apparatus and the operating steps necessary to accomplish the desired mooring and connection.